DIY Burgers

During MCO, I’ve ordered burgers through online delivery. It was awful. The packaging came wet and the buns were soggy. That was the last time I ordered burger online.

We tried burgers at myburgerlab and it was superb. Absolutely yummy. I bought DIY pack from them for a fast and easy dinner at home.

Ingredients that I used to make the DIY burgers. My first attempt. 

Options to make the burgers more impressive and look like a gourmet burger:

  • Portobello mushroom: Season with salt and pepper, glaze with olive oil and put on frypan inside out. Crack an egg on top of the mushroom and fry/grill for a few minutes.
  • Streaky bacon: Cook till nice and crispy. Cut/break into smaller piece to fit into burger
  • Lettuce
  • Sliced thinly tomatoes
  • Caramelized onion – lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and grill

My 2nd attempt. Depending on what I have in the fridge.

Thaw DIY charcoal buns and patties overnight before cooking.

I used my brand new Tefal Everest frypan to make DIY burgers for lunch today.

Lightly toast the buns, face down on a frypan, for a nice and crisp, not soggy buns. Do for the other side too.

The frypan surface is big enough for me to toast the buns and also pan fry the burger patties and bacon.

Used Tefal egg frypan to fry eggs. The egg will be round and fit nicely on burger bun, thicker and make the burger looks more impressive.

Cook patties on a frypan or grill at medium heat, 3 mins on each side.

Assemble the burgers while the patties are cooking.

  • On the base of bun, spread some dressing of choice i.e. mayonnaise, thousand island, mustard, ketchup, chili sauce, etc.
  • Snap and break lettuce and put on top of dressing
  • Add sliced tomatoes, streaky bacon, fried egg, and caramelized onion and portobello mushroom.

I followed Gordon Ramsay’s advice and lightly brush some butter on the patties on the last few seconds to add the nice buttery, moist taste to the patties.

Add cheddar cheese on top of the patties.

Finally, put the burger patties on top of burger.

The staff of myburgerlab was kind enough to give me few burger pockets to use at home.

Put the assembled burger into the burger paper pocket and eat it immediately.

You can choose to have a simple burger of just egg and patty or make them a gourmet burger. Either way, we enjoyed the DIY burgers. They are yummy and most importantly, not soggy.

 

Chili and Garlic Prawns

We always like the tapas from El Meson, especially their garlic and chilli prawns. So, I decided to try cooking it at home today. Made just a small portion to try out and it turned out well. Jaden said delicious and asked me to cook more next time. Yes, Jaden. 

The prawns are flavourful and it’s nice to eat with bread.

I browsed through internet and YouTube for recipe and I found this.

Ingredients:

  • Olive oil: 50 ml
  • Chili: 1
  • Garlic: 3 cloves, minced
  • Paprika: 1/2 tsp
  • Prawns: Cook 2 minutes on each side
  • Parsley
  • Lemon juice
  • Salt to taste

Instructions:

  1. On a hot frypan, add olive oil.
  2. Add chili and garlic and fry till fragrant.

3. Add Paprika and fry together with chili and garlic.

4. Add prawns and cook for 2 minutes on each side.

5. Add parsley, squeeze some lemon juice and finally, add salt to taste.

We had it as Poke Bowl for a quick weekday lunch.

Scoop rice into a bowl. Layer with baby spinach. I added hard boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, seaweed flakes and sunflower seeds.

Adding colours to my food.

Jjajang Deopbap (Rice Bowl with Black Bean Sauce)

Lunch: Jjajang Deopbap (Rice bowl with black bean sauce)

Earlier, we made jjajang sauce. Something that can be meal prep.

Today, for a quick lunch, I cooked deopbap. It’s a simple and flavourful lunch. Added seaweed and mix the rice and Jjajang together..

[Ingredients]

2 eggs
1/4 stalk (20g) green onion
2 tbsp (40g) good-for-all jjajang sauce
2 tbsp (15g) cooking oil
1 tbsp (10g) water
1 bowl (200g) rice

[Directions]

1. Finely chop the green onions.
2. Add cooking oil to a pan and stir-fry the green onions.
3. Push the green onions to the side of the pan.
Crack in eggs to the other side and scramble them.
4. After the eggs are scrambled, stir-fry them with green onions and jjajang sauce.
5. Add some water when stir-frying for the flavor of the sauce to blend with the eggs. (You can add more sauce to taste instead of using salt)
6. Scoop rice into a rice bowl and pour the sauce over it.

Garlic Fried Rice

Jared and Jaden like the garlic fried rice they had in Japanese restaurant.

During one of my Teppanyaki lunch, I watched the chef frying garlic fried rice when we sat at the Teppanyaki counter.

Ingredients:

  • Garlic – 5 cloves, slice thinly.
  • Garlic – 1 bulb, minced.
  • Oil – 1 tablespoon
  • Butter – 20g
  • Eggs – 6
  • Rice – Overnight, 4 cups.
  • Chicken powder – 1.5 tsp
  • Salt – 1/2 tsp
  • Soya sauce – 1 tbsp.
  • Spring onion – 4 stalks, chopped
  • Black pepper – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Fry sliced garlic on low heat to avoid burning, till golden brown and set aside.
  2. Fry minced garlic till golden brown and set aside.
  3. Put Oil and butter on wokpan
  4. Fry eggs till 80% cooked
  5. Pour rice and mix with eggs
  6. Add chicken powder and salt.
  7. Continue frying until rice jumping
  8. Add fried minced garlic and soya sauce

Add chopped spring onion and black pepper.

Scoop rice into a bowl or a serving place.

Decorate with fried sliced garlic.

I’ve tried cooking this fried rice several times since MCO and CMCO and it always get Jaden excited and enjoyed his lunch.

Eat on its own and with any meat as side dish.  

Chicken Fajitas

COVID-19 Movement Control – Day 72
Lunch: Chicken Fajitas

Chicken fajitas, a classic Mexican recipe that is easy to prepare and a flavorful meal. I marinated the chicken yesterday so that the chicken is seasoned well and I could cook it fast for lunch today since it’s a working day, the usual WFH.

We ate it 3 different ways ie with quinoa, wraps and butterhead lettuce. Top it with avocado and a dollop of sour cream. So yummy and healthy.

Ingredients::

Ø  Fajita Seasoning

  • 1/2 tbsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper

Ø  Chicken Fajitas

  • 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, halves the thickness
  • 1 onion, thinly sliced
  • 3 bell peppers , thinly sliced
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 lime

Ø  For Serving

  • Tortillas
  • Butterhead lettuce
  • Sour cream
  • Pico de gallo
  • Avocado

Instructions:

  1. Add the fajitas seasoning ingredients to a small mixing bowl and stir together.

2. Season the chicken. Generously sprinkle the fajita seasoning on both sides of the chicken and use your fingers press it into the chicken.

3. Cook the chicken. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and lightly coat it with a drizzle of olive oil or avocado oil. Sear the chicken breasts for about 7-8 minutes on each side.

Then remove them from the pan and let the chicken rest for a few minutes before slicing into strips.

4. Saute the bell peppers and onion. While your chicken is cooking, cut the bell peppers and onion into thin slices.

Once the chicken is removed, saute the bell peppers and onion in the same skillet over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently until caramelized.

5. Mix together. Add the chicken back into the skillet, add a squeeze of fresh lime juice (A must as squeeze of fresh lime adds a punch of flavor) and stir everything together.

6. Wrap it up. Serve immediately with tortillas and extra toppings such as sour cream, pico de gallo and guacamole.

 

Spicy mixed-up seafood noodle soup (Jjamppong)

COVID-19 Movement Control – Day 71
Lunch: Spicy mixed-up seafood noodle soup (Jjamppong)

I still have 2 stalks of dae-pa that I bought from Korean grocer. Not wanting it to go to waste, I checked on internet what I can cook with it and found this from my favourite Korean chef, Maangchi’s Spicy Seafood Noodle Soup.

Another new Korean recipe. Sourish, spicy and sweet seafood noodle soup.

Ingredients:

Vegetables:

  • 1 daepa (large green onion), or 4 green onions, cut into 2 inch length
  • 100g leek, washed and cut into ½ x 2 inch strips
  • 100g ounces bok choy, washed
  • 85g / 3 large cabbage leaves, cut into bite-size pieces
  • 100g onion, sliced
  • 1 small carrot, peeled and cut into 2-inch strips

Seafoods and meat:

  • 4 large shrimp, shelled and deveined
  • 100g squid, just the body with guts removed and sliced into rings
  • 8 mussels (optional), scrubbed, debearded, soaked in salted water for a few hours, and washed
  • 24 small clams (optional), soaked in salted water for a few hours, and washed
  • 100g of thinly sliced pork belly (or beef or chicken)

Noodles and seasonings:

Bought this from a Korean grocer, $17.20 for 6 servings.

  • Fresh or frozen jjajangmyeon noodles, thawed if frozen, and uncoiled
  • 5 tbsp gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes)
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tsp kosher salt

Directions:

Make the hot pepper flakes mixture:

  1. Combine 2 tablespoons of hot pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil in a small bowl.
  2. Mix with a spoon until well incorporated. Set aside.

Make jjamppong:

  1. Heat a large wok (or pot) over high heat. Add the vegetable oil, garlic, ginger, and stir about 20 seconds with a wooden spoon until the garlic starts to turn a little crispy.
  2. Add the pork and stir until slightly cooked.
  3. Clear a spot in the wok by pushing the garlic, ginger, and the meat to the side. Tilt the wok so that the excess vegetable oil slides into the cleared area. Put 3 tablespoons hot pepper flakes into the hot oil and stir and mix with the wooden spoon for about 1 minute, until it creates a smoky flavor but not long enough to burn. Then stir everything in the wok together into the hot oil.
  4. Add green onion, leek, cabbage, and onion and stir for 3 to 4 minutes until the vegetables are wilted.
  5. Add 6 cups stock and all the seafoods and bok choy. Cover and cook 7 to 8 minutes until the mussels and clams are open and the shrimp and squid are well cooked.

6. Stir in the fish sauce, kosher salt, and the reserved hot pepper flakes mixture. Cover and let it simmer over low heat.

We added too much of anchovy stocks that the broth is a little diluted but the taste is still nice.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles:

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and stir a few times so that they don’t stick to each other.
  2. Cover and cook 5 to 8 minutes until tender but still chewy.
  3. Strain and rinse the noodles in cold running water to make them nice and chewy.

Put it together and serve:

  1. Heat up the soup over high heat.
  2. Divide the noodles into individual serving bowls. Add the soup over top and include cooked seafood, vegetables, meat over top of the noodles. Serve right away.

Chicken Wrap with Cinco de Mayo Salsa Cruda

COVID-19 Movement Control – Day 70
Lunch: Chicken wrap with Cinco de Mayo Salsa Cruda

Today is already the Day 70, also the 3rd day of Hari Raya and public holiday. Usually, we would have gone out for house visiting or having coffee chat with friends. But now, we are staying in, finding interesting thing to do before we die of boredom.

For me, I have been cooking far more than the total cooking I’ve done for my entire life prior to this MCO. I’ve tried lots of new recipes, inclusive of meal prep and then, take lots and lots of photos and post them on Facebook, Instagram or/and my blog. This blog is active again during this MCO, it was left idle for a few years with only 3 posts in 2016, 1 post in 2017 and I stopped blogging in 2018 and 2019 and moved to Instagram. During this MCO period, I’ve posted more than 20 posts in my blog and contributed 8 posts to Club Tefal Facebook!

2 days ago, I received the sweetest message from Wendy “Sista, I just want to drop u a message that I am happy to see ur FB posts. The old Saw Leng is back to cooking, baking, writing and sharing. Glad ur confidence are back. Lots of hugs”. Hug, hug you back. Tight, tight, Wendy

Using the salsa that we made yesterday, we add in chicken and hard-boiled eggs for protein and wrap them for our lunch today.

Yesterday, on Hari Raya Day 2, since it’s not a working day, another opportunity to explore new recipe. This recipe was shared by my niece, by Chef John from allrecipes.

A simple recipe of mixing everything together but be prepared with lots and lots of cutting.

Ingredients:

  • 300g cherry tomatoes, diced

I used mix of orange and red colours of cherry tomatoes to add some colours t

 

Use small serrated knife to cut cherry tomatoes into small dice pieces. Let it drain over strainer to remove liquid from cut tomatoes.

Onion, minced finely. 1/2 cup.

I couldn’t find jalapeno and serrano chili pepper in both of the groceries shops that I went.

Using normal green chili and Korean Cheongyang pepper that I have at home

Minced finely.

 

Add 2 cloves of garlic mince.

Pour 2 tbsp of lime juice over the top.

Stir in dried oregano, cayenne, pepper, salt and sugar

 

Chop finely mint leaves

Just learned that Cilantro is also called Chinese parsley or Coriander.

Chop finely Cilantro leaves.

Stir in mint and cilantro.

 

Mix well. Refrigerate for 1 hour to let it set. Season with salt to taste.

This salsa goes so well with Tortilla chips

    

 

Pan-fried Seabass with Lemon Garlic Herb Sauce

COVID-19 Movement Control – Day 68
Lunch: Pan-fried Seabass with Lemon Garlic Herb Sauce

I ordered 4 Seabass from my favourite TTDI Market Seafood Auntie. She fillet the fish for me and return the bones for me to cook fish soup noodle.

Today, I tried out this new recipe for Seabass. I like the sourish taste with the fragrance herbs smell. It goes really well with the Seabass and baby spinach.

Ingredients

  • 700g sea bass, cut into fillet
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp of kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp of black pepper
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 5 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup of dry white wine, ie savignon blanc
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock/broth or water
  • 2 tbsp of lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp each of fresh oregano, thyme and parsley (or any herbs), roughly chopped
  • lemon wedges, for decoration/serving

Instructions

  1. Pat fish fillet dry with a paper towel.
  2. In a shallow dish, mix together flour, salt and black pepper.
  3. Coat each side, the entire surface of fish in the flour mixture and shake off excess flour.
  4. Using a non-stick frypan, melt 1 tbsp of butter over medium high heat and add olive oil.
  5. Cook fish in the frypan for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden brown.
  6. Remove fish to a plate.
  7. Turn down the heat to low. Add white wine to frypan to deglaze and continue heating until almost all the wine has evaporated.
  8. Add one more tablespoon of butter to the frypan. Once it’s melted, add the minced garlic and fresh herbs and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  9. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer.
  10. Turn off heat and stir in remaining 1 tablespoon butter and lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning.
  11. Serve sauce on top of fish.

We had the fish with quinoa rice and baby spinach.

And I forgotten to use these lemon slices to serve with the seabass.  Cooking is tiring, from planning to browsing on the internet, getting the ingredients, preparing, cooking and washing up. And it’s Sunday, which is also weekly cleaning day. 😕

Really happy to have Max. My best investment during this MCO.

When the house is finally cleaned, I can relax and enjoy burnt cheesecake from sister.

For today’s dinner, I had my first Hokkien mee during this MCO. TQ to my foodie friend for the recommendation. I have quota for cab. Must eat good one only. It was worth the drive and wait. Craving satisfied.

 

Spicy stir-fried Pork and Green Onion (Dae-pa Bokkeum)

COVID-19 Movement Control – Day 67

My foodie friend who once lived in Seoul for few years inspired me to cook this Bokkeum. He saw I have been trying out Korean dishes during this MCO.

I browsed a few videos on how to cook it. I scribbled some notes and the ingredients to buy. While I was busy doing it, the doorbell rang. My sister delivered these burnt cheesecake again. How to stay on diet?

I couldn’t get green onions and Cheongyang pepper. I went to a Korean grocer and found them. Not cheap.

Korean large green onions, which are sweeter and more aromatic, cost $10.20.

Cheongyang pepper cost $19.50.

Ingredients:

  • 300g pork belly, cut into bite size pieces 1/8 inch thick
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 8 cloves garlic, sliced into thick pieces
  • 1.5 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp ginger, minced
  • 1 medium size onion, sliced
  • 2 stalks green onions sliced in half and cut into 5cm pieces.
  • 3 Cheongyang peppers (green chili), roughly slice diagonally
  • 1 tbsp coarse red pepper powder (gochu-garu)
  • 1 tbsp fine red pepper powder
  • ¼ cup hot pepper paste (gochujang)
  • 1/3 cups water
  • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

 

Directions:

  1. Heat up a large pan over medium high heat.
  2. Put the pork belly on a pan, sprinkle flavoring salt and pepper, roast over medium heat.
  3. Once the pork belly is cooked, add garlic.
  4. If too much oil has come out from pork belly in the pan, take out some oil.
  5. When garlic is golden, add sugar and stir-fry.
  6. Sprinkle soy sauce around the edge of the pan and scorch to give a smoky flavor.

7. Add the green onions, coarse red pepper powder, fine red pepper powder, and stir-fry till the pork is fully cooked and juicy and a little crispy.

8. Add water to make sure ingredients blend well.

9. Sprinkle black pepper and sesame oil and mix before the green onion softens.

10. Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle ground sesame seeds.

We had it with rice and kimchi pancake.

May eat with lettuce, ssamjang and side dishes.

My Dae Pa Bokkeum is not red enough but its spicy with the Cheongyang pepper. Next time, I will use more fatty pork belly so that the meat is juicier. Overall, the taste is good and we finished the entire plate.

Spicy Rice Cake (Tteokbokki)

COVID-19 Movement Control – Day 62
Lunch: Spicy Rice Cake (Tteokbokki)

Another first attempt, another Korean food.
I made some twist from the cooking direction on the hot sauce packet. I didn’t use water but anchovies stock. My foodie friend told me Korean food is best to cook with anchovies stock. I am so glad that I did it.

This is like our Chee Cheong Fun (Rice noodle roll) that commonly served as snack or light meal.

As we had it for lunch, I added hard boiled eggs and fuchok roll. I also added cabbage which tasted like kimchi after cooked in the hot sauce and onions to give some flavor to the stock.

Ingredients:

  • 2.5 cups of anchovies stock
  • 250g of rice cake
  • Toppokki hot sauce – ready made or combine in a small bowl
    • ⅓ cup hot pepper paste
    • 1 tbsp hot pepper flakes (we reduced to 3/4 tbsp as it’s too spicy for you)
    • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 3 green onions, cut into 2.5 inch long and some for garnishing
  • Optionals:
    • Cabbage – sliced into bite pieces
    • Onions
    • 2 hard boiled eggs, shelled
    • Meat balls/Fish cake/Fuchok roll

If use frozen rice cake, thaw it out and soak in cold water to soften it before cooking.

Make hard boiled eggs and let it cool in cold water, shelled.

Directions:

  1. Boil anchovies stock.
  2. Add rice cake and Toppokki hot sauce

3. Add green onion, cabbage and onions

4. Add hard boiled eggs and fish cake/fuchok roll.

5. Stir gently with a wooden spoon when it starts to boil

6. Keep stirring until the rice cake turns soft and the sauce thickens and looks shiny, which should take about 10 -15 minutes. If the rice cake is not soft enough, add more water and continue stirring until soften.

7. Remove from heat, garnish green onions and serve hot.

I only used 1 packet of the hot sauce as it was quite spicy.